“August – Horses
Birthday” - as they say in Australia. Not a term we’d heard before until
arriving at Leichardt’s Lagoon, by a most welcoming Caretaker in a beautiful
bush setting overlooking a lagoon filled with water birds of all sorts
(including comb-crested jacanas, magpie and pygmy geese). Best of all, our
favourite Apostle Birds scurried around chattering vociferously to each other
as they searched the ground for any scrap around the informally laid out
campground. They are such characters. In time we looked up Horses Birthday and discovered
its relevance … In the Southern Hemisphere all Thoroughbreds celebrate their
birthdays on the same day- August 1st while in the Northern sphere –
horses have their birthday on 1st January - generally for horse
racing purposes!
The campground lies
on a privately owned property named Glenmore, the owners of which have chosen
to use part of it as a caravan park and employ a caretaker to manage the site.
Once a week there is Saturday Night Shindig at the old Glenmore homestead
situated on the other side of the lagoon to which campers are invited, so it is
a campground quite different to any other we have stayed at, and for travellers
in this part of Queensland well worth knowing about. We would like to have lingered longer here
however, dates are set in place and we need to keep moving.
Travelling the
Savannah Way between Normanton and Croydon, spider webs caught our attention!
Gleaming in the morning sun like white marker flags or in Lea’s eye, candy
floss on sticks in the middle of nowhere. The form of the webs, covering entire
branches on bushes struck us both independently. We became determined to stop
at a suitable spot to have a closer look. On the old Queensland road nothing safe
materialised. We stopped in Croydon for the night as it was halfway to our next
destination. We really don’t appreciate more than a two hour run at a time.
Since our last visit to Croydon we could see big improvements to the caravan
park. The Information Centre in town is still one of the best in the country
for its displays. Next stop, took us to Cumberland Chimney and lagoon. A great
outback campsite that we’d merely stopped at in the past to enjoy lunch while
crossing the Top End’s Savannah Way -
thanks to the landmark old chimney. Very typical of the type Cornish gold
miners built in the late 1800’s dominating the landscape here and in South
Australia. This time we’d come to camp
and made our way down below the dam wall; backed the van into a nice quiet spot
alive with all sorts of birds. The dam, built as a water supply for the long
defunct Cumberland Mine, is now regarded as a bird watching retreat. Before
long we had a number of beautiful red-tailed black cockatoos feeding on the
yellow coloured, cherry-like fruits of a tree directly behind the caravan;
snipping off the branches with their beaks which they then held like a kebab
stick while they ate the fruit at their leisure.
We managed to
inspect bush candy floss at the Cumberland
Chimney and discovered the spider’s larder within. A dragonfly and a
grasshopper most evident.
The whole place
has an interesting history as the Cumberland Mine (pegged in 1872) was once the
largest and most successful gold mine in the region. With a shaft 1 000 ft
deep, batteries of crushers and tall chimney built to disperse the smoke from
all the engines involved, a large fully serviced mining township soon developed
with shops, a bank, four hotels, police station and school to provide for the
400 - 500 people that lived there in the 1880s.
However, just like many other mining ventures in the country, gold
production gradually declined and by 1890 only 170 people remained. Floods in
1893 washed away the dam and by 1899 all the services provided except for the
school, had been withdrawn. All that remains today is the chimney and the dam!
East of
Georgetown we encountered steeper terrain, hill climbs and the numerous
stretches of narrow, sharp-edged, single lane bitumen make for a rough, bouncy
drive but we had our sights set on Mt Surprise (100 km ahead). We’d stayed in
the small, peaceful park, full of flamboyant trees that lay hidden behind the
motel on a previous occasion. The emu that showed us to our site last time, now
resides in the adjoining paddock with the Thumbelina ponies. A young brolga,
with a deformed foot played host on the campsite this time round. A chick from
the brolga that had danced for George on our previous occasion. Here, a powered
site costs $20.
On arrival
George could not help smiling at the sign on the door! Inside, a T-shirt for
sale in the office read …”and the Angel
said unto the Shepherd take your sheep and piss off cos this is cattle country
mate!” Both appealed to his sense of humour.
On our return
from an evening walk around the village we began chatting to a couple who had
just returned from a trip to Cobbold Gorge. Glen and Joy Van Hoff from Murgon
in Qld, turned out to have had a brother, a mercenary pilot who’d flown in the
“Rhodesian War”. Glen spent some time
telling us of his experiences as a youngster mustering cattle in far North
Queensland and how wild bulls were overpowered by force, by hanging onto the
bull’s tail before they were manually thrown and their back legs, hog-tied. We
were intrigued. He soon questioned us on any lion stories and was equally
intrigued in George’s encounters. We could have nattered the night away…
From Mt Surprise
we move another 120km to the Archers Creek rest area, a ‘ticked’ site and very popular.
Luckily we managed to find ourselves a spot below the main campground / terrace
on the floodplain of the Millstream River. Although below the Atherton
Tablelands, the change in our environment was immediately evident - a large
bank of cloud in the east alerting us to the Dividing Range and ocean getting
closer, a greenness to the colour of the vegetation with the burnt orange Grevillea
flowering everywhere, the sound of orioles and choughs calling in the trees,
even the clear water running in the river was a sight we’d not seen in a while.
We’d grown accustomed to the aridity of the countryside within Queensland’s
interior, so after climbing past Ravenshoe onto the Tablelands we found the
transformation of our surrounds quite a jolt. The greenness of the pastures,
full of fat cattle amidst mountainous landscape reminded us of New Zealand for
a while; tree ferns put in an appearance and before long we were in rainforest,
with tall trees overshadowing the ever-twisting road, signs about cassowary and
tree kangaroo crossing points simply added to the unfamiliarity of steep
valleys dropping-off on either side, sharp bends, and steep inclines all of
which had us crawling along in second gear!
The town of
Atherton was far too busy for us to even consider stopping so we pushed on towards
Mareeba where, more to our liking, the country started to flatten out a bit. We
pulled into the Rocky Creek Memorial Park where we had planned to meet up with
Muriel Lappin next day. We soon realised it would not be a suitable campground and
after a tea break, made tracks for Kerribee Park. A camping ground (owned by
the Rodeo Association) outside Mareeba – Horrors, it was covered in “acres” of
tightly packed vans, our hearts fell at the sight. Nevertheless, at $20 per
night for a powered site, we could hardly complain and we managed to be given
an outer edge site which suited us for the next two nights. An interesting
feature on the boundary outskirts were rounded termite mounds, looking like carefully
bundled hay bales in a field – a possible response to the higher rainfall?
We busied
ourselves finding new homes for everything in the back of the truck; cleaned it
out and re-made the bed ready for Muriel. Refuelled, stocked up with groceries
and visited the local VIC to obtain maps and information on places of interest
in the Mareeba region.
Early next
morning Muriel Tait nee Lappin, one of Lea’s first pupil’s at Kariba school in
1967, arrived from Cairns to spend the next five nights with us exploring the
Tablelands. Within hours, we set off to visit the Emerald Creek Falls located
in the Dinden West Forest Reserve. A pleasant two kilometre scramble to the
base of the falls. Over our picnic lunch a pair of yellow robins entertained us
as they fed themselves.
Our next day,
Muriel followed our rig to Granite Gorge. George was keen to check out a
self-contained campground known as Mareeba Bush Stays close to the Gorge. Jackpot!
This 150 acre privately owned bush plot with numerous widely separated camp
sites in the bush, all with attractive views of bush and the two picturesque
dams (stocked with red-claw crayfish), solar heated showers, walking trails,
and a friendly caretaker Steve, who took George around the whole campground in
his truck to provide an overview of what was available before booking in. We
were not chased off for not meeting “Self-Contained” status. At $15 per day –
we could not have asked for more. In due course we learnt there was a python
hanging around and to stretch the story… had devoured a couple of dogs!
While Lea and
Muriel chatted away non-stop George took a good walk around. That afternoon we
set off to visit Granite Gorge and spent a few hours with the rock wallabies
and walking a part of trail leading through the jumble of huge rocks and
boulders that remind us so much of Zimbabwe.
Next morning,
Steve was intercepted as he returned from the dam with a bucket of red-claw
crayfish (some with tiny circular ecto-parasites on ventral surface) caught
overnight, just as we prepared to depart for a caravan park at Lake Eacham. We took
a short cut through to Atherton and spent a frustrating few hours trying to
find somewhere to stay. Two parks we had thought would be suitable were unable
to take us. With a sense of desperation mounting, we recalled seeing a sign
outside of Yungaburra amidst the maize fields. We took a chance and discovered
this small, unlisted (except on Wikicamps) - Bonadio RV Park, on a working maize
farm was more than perfect. The Barron River passed through below our hill, with
platypus frequenting a long stretch; while tree kangaroos lived in the adjoining
forest!
We unhitched and
returned to explore the very arty village of Yungaburra; its streets full of
hanging baskets of flowers; visited the well-known very impressive curtain fig
tree just outside the town – And, on returning to our campsite, couldn’t wait
to take a walk along the river looking for platypus. George was content to stay
in one spot and watch while Lea and Muriel wandered along the banks of this
peaceful river edged by forest while young platypus rose to the surface and
flipped back down into the grey green waters giving us many fleeting sights. During
this time Muriel and Lea were stunned to see a bus load of tourists suddenly
appear out of the trees followed by yet another bus load. For their numbers, they were incredibly
quiet. Although we beckoned them over to the area the platypus had been
frolicked, it was the last sighting for the night and we returned to camp in
the dark, elated.
After a cold
night on the Tablelands, we were set off on a sightseeing trip south of the
Atherton region. In Malanda we visited the Nerada tea estate. Extensive, neatly
trimmed plantations with a factory that allowed visitors to overlook the
numerous processes involved in the production of the tea. Muriel stood us to
tea and scones and as we departed, a tree kangaroo was spotted sitting like a
monkey, with its long tail hanging down, at the top of a tall tree outside the
café. With a chilly wind blowing, we were all wearing jerseys for the first
time and George was quick to note the tree kangaroo was sitting on a branch
exposed to the sun, just like baboons do on cold mornings.
Nerada
tea factory (processing 4 500kg of crushed leaf / hr)
Next, we took
Muriel on the 12km circuit that takes in three waterfalls – the Millaa Millaa
Falls, the Zillie Falls (here we found a large feral rooster having a sand bath
in the forest. When George had first glimpsed the strange movement as he drove
into the parking lot he thought he’d seen an echidna or wombat – all rather extraordinary!
While enjoying our picnic lunch at the Elinjaa Falls we had more feral chooks
and brush turkeys circulating around our legs in the hope of any crumb.
Millaa Millaa
Taking a very
scenic route (cross country track) back to the Kennedy Highway we struggled to
find Jenny Maclean’s Bat Hospital outside Atherton, never mind a previous visit.
We had so enjoyed that first informal visit that we were keen for Muriel to
experience it. Many changes had taken place and a very well presented tour took
place shortly after we arrived to help boost funds for this dedicated Bat
Hospital. The video shown before the
tour was most informative and the young guide extremely well informed. At one stage,
used a bat detector to demonstrate the constant frequency of the echolocation
calls, well beyond human hearing, being made by “Lady Di”, a tiny diadem
leaf-nosed bat, they have in their sanctuary.
After a 160km
journey we were back home by 5.30 just in time before the warmth of the sun was
lost and a bone marrow cold set in. By bed time, faced with sleeping in back of
SKV, Muriel needed hot milk, extra blankets and a beanie to get her through
the coldest night thus far.
An overcast day followed and freshly made cheese scones required
before we could take off on our next adventure around Lake Tinaroo, through the
Danbulla National Park and State Forest visiting several of the campgrounds as
we went, just for a ‘look see’ as well
as visiting a number of attractions in the rain forests - Lake Euramoo (25 000 year old crater lake or
maar), “Mobo creek crater” which was
not a crater in the normal sense of the word but a deep pool on the bend of the
Mobo creek created / scoured out by floodwaters to resemble a crater.
Lake Tinaroo
Rainforest
surrounded Mobo creek crater
By lunch time we
were happy to return to camp and relax in the lovely surrounds of Bonadio Park
until it was time for our last evening’s platypus viewing. Numerous sightings took
place and Muriel managed to obtain excellent photos as two adults swam along
the bank edge right below a spot where she was standing with Lea. The
excitement was palpable! George’s camera was unable to capture the clarity
Muriel’s phone camera caught.
Platypus
sightings
With Muriel returning to Cairns before the day
was done we had a leisurely breakfast before camp was struck and we returned to
‘Mareeba Bush Stays’ for our last days. Muriel reluctantly left us in that quiet
bush setting, after lunch. By the 14th
we were on our way to Cairns, always a nerve wracking business as it involves
crawling, in 4WD, down the steep, winding descent through the Kuranda Range to
Cairns Holiday Park where we were booked for the next two weeks.
On the news that
night, we heard a truck had turned over on the same route minutes after we’d
descended, resulting in road closure until 4.00pm! We’d been allocated a site in which we had
very little room to manoeuvre but once we were settled in Lea went off to see
to laundry before Muriel arrived. After a bite of lunch, Lea went off with
Muriel for the afternoon leaving George to wash down the rig and do his
‘thing’. Muriel was making dinner for us - George’s favourite cottage pie! Muriel’s
garden flat, was not far from the caravan park at all and that night we met her
cats, Shadow and Tiger; looked through old photos of Kariba and examined her
large collection of stones. To George’s amazement, when we left, she gave him her
entire collection of zebra rock from Argyle Dam – which included some of the
primordial variety.
In the early
hours of morning we were rudely awakened by patter of rain drops! Rain? We hadn’t
seen rain for four months! – it stopped only to come down a lot heavier a short
while later leading to a mad scramble to bring in our deep freeze standing
outside. The rest of the day was spent packing our bag for our Island getaway;
replacing the globe for the outside light which involved a run around town and,
in anticipation of more rain and the possibility of leaks, a fresh coat of
hydro-seal over the joints on the caravan roof.
Before leaving on
the morrow, we opened the anniversary present our daughter had sent via Muriel’s
postal address and found an updated version of the pillow she made for our ruby
anniversary – this time we had pictures of all our grand-children (plus Zazu
and Harley dog) and our children on the opposite side!
Leaving our rig,
secure in the caravan park, Muriel took us to Cairn’s Marlin Wharf in time for
our scheduled 11.00am departure on the “fast cat” ferry for Fitzroy Island.
Once a quarantine station for Chinese heading for the Palmer River goldfields
in 1877, the island opened as a resort in 1920 as well as serving as a radar
station in WW2. Fitzroy Island resort
occupies 15 ha of the 340 ha Fitzroy National Park and offers an extraordinary
variety of reef related activities to its guests … from snorkelling to diving,
swimming, glass bottomed boat tours, reef fishing, outer reef tours, kayaking
and paddle-boating … It is actively involved in pioneering coral restoration
(attempting to develop a heat resistant form of coral to stimulate regrowth)
and turtle conservation. To protect the
reef surrounding the resort all wastes generated, including the sludge from the
sewage treatment plant on the island, are taken back to Cairns.
It did not take
us long to find our way to what is known as Foxy’s Tavern in order to have a
tasty bowl of wedges washed down with a cold beer (Great Northern lager) and as
we returned to our room heard the extraordinary call of a bird in the forest
than neither of us recognised. With the aid of the hotel’s bird list, we
concluded it could have been a Varied Triller. Back on mainland – Muriel
googled the sounds of Trillers and it did not match- We are none the wiser!
An evening walk
along the coral beach in front of the resort – the texture of which reminded us
of bleached corn curls, we returned to Foxy’s Tavern for dinner, listening to
the musician playing there and watching the sun set over the Coral Sea.
A silvery night!
Our 50th
anniversary dawned – a milestone that, after all the
inevitable ups and downs, we are so very proud to have reached albeit entirely
due to the deep, abiding love we have for each other. We had a card prepared by
our Gee family to open and as the day wore on, we became increasingly
overwhelmed by the congratulatory messages from all over the world! We enjoyed
breakfast In a lovely setting overlooking Welcome Bay –
Simple delights
on this auspicious day came in the form of the giant clam shell filled with red
hibiscus flowers centred by a huge gold one only on the 17th; signs
from heaven … a sea eagle circled above us in most graceful moves that tears
filled Lea’s eyes; two tiny yellow-breasted sun birds darted in and out of the
bush beside us while enjoying a shower in the garden sprinkler.
Later, a walk through rain forest, picking our way
past huge granite boulders, to Nudey Beach where we spent the morning reading
and sunbathing. Beautiful views assailed our eyes at every point on this
beautiful tropical island and as inviting as it looked, the sea was considered
too cold for a swim!
Come evening, we
returned to Foxy’s for Sundowners before continuing on to Zephyr where we had
booked a table in the formal restaurant. After we’d been settled in our seats to
enjoy the culinary skills of executive chef Mohamed Abdell we were totally
blown away by special messages from Saxon and Paul as well as Sue and Matt
Ramsden adding their surprise touches to our night. Eyes leaked at their
incredible efforts to make our milestone memorable. The whole day had been magical
and we glowed golden too
Next day, Lea
was determined to read more of Joanne van Os’s book Outback Heart. Muriel had met Joanne during her years in Darwin and
spoke of the book she owned while we were up on the Tablelands together. On
arrival in Cairns, she brought it round for us to read… Coincidently - while we’d
been in Adelaide River we had stopped at a memorial to a young policeman and
family man, shot dead manning a road block. This book, written by the wife of
the perpetrator of this awful deed made for riveting reading . More so, because
Rod Ansell’s life was lived in very familiar territory to us. After breakfast,
while Lea’s nose sank into her book George took the steep trek that included 1
000 + steps to the summit of Fitzroy Island and returned via a 2 km track (a
concrete strip road) that took him past the foundations of the first gas
powered lighthouse (built in 1923) and the site of the second lighthouse that
replaced it in 1943. The latter was
upgraded in 1970 and closed in 1992, From this point George was given a good
view of the shipping lane known as the Grafton Passage.
Must add, that
on his return Lea noticed a muddied sleeve. On quizzing him – she laughed when
he said he had fallen- convinced he was pulling her leg. However, his grazed
knees proved otherwise. Too speedy for his years – once again on the descent
knee wobbles had put him down. Not as
bad as the Mount Augustus damage and nothing a cooling shower followed by a
good afternoon nap couldn’t fix. Our final dinner at Foxy’s was marked by a jug
of beer to wash down Lea’s prawns and George’s chicken schnitzel. All in a
tropical setting we had come to love.
Next day with
our luggage in the lobby and our three night Golden Getaway all but over we
happily hung out at Foxy’s Tavern overlooking the comings and goings of boats
and people until our 12.15 ferry return to Cairns. Muriel completed the royal
treatment by collecting and returning us to the caravan park.
Early next
morning Muriel picked Lea up; leaving George waited out a 10.00 appointment
from Allan Johnston of Ace Gas Fittings to fix the water heater in the caravan as
that had suddenly stopped igniting. As soon as the job was a good one, he
dashed over to join us for brunch. Muriel had arranged for her daughter
Charnie, husband Jeremy and their two little sons Liam and Tyler to join
us.
A bit daunting being overlooked by Jeremy who is a chef!
After the family had departed with their weary kidlets, George loaded SKV with furniture Muriel had no space for, in her crowded unit for two trips to the charity shop.
That evening,
Muriel had organised a catch-up with Susan Blain nee Beveridge.
Susan had been a
Brownie in Lea’s Kariba Pack in 1967/8 before she went off to High School.
Fifty years since we’d last seen her, we were to enjoy a wonderful dinner out
on the broad decking of her heritage home.
Susan’s husband
died a few months after Justine in 2017. Ken Blain had been a former marine, a chopper
pilot in Rhodesian Air Force, a PNG war veteran, and a pilot for Brunei. Susan a
pharmacist. Both had enjoyed motor bikes, in fact Ken was the first patched
veteran in Australia and recently she had placed his ashes at a look-out not
far from MT Carbine with a beautifully made helicopter marking the spot.
Snuffling around us, was her new companion Baxter - a pitch black French
bulldog. Conversation ran hard that night as we caught up on her life, our Kariba
connections particularly her parents Dave and Isabel Beveridge whom we’d lost contact
with during their ailing years in the UK. Well do we recall surprising them in
Dickleburgh, Norfolk during our first overseas trip. Susan’s 75 year old neighbour Ron Crew joined us for dinner (his wife doing grandma duty in Brisbane) –
the conversation changed to Port Development (his forte), Dengue Fever which he’d had three times as
well as contracting polio as a youngster. He was all for dredging and using the
spoil to reclaim so-called wasteland (salt marshes) in the vicinity of Cairns
and having been thwarted by the likes of WWF, Greenpeace and Reef Foundation,
had a very jaundiced view about greenies (failing to recognise, in George’s view)
the cumulative impact that industry and shipping poses along the whole length
of the Great Barrier Reef, quite apart from everything else like sediment
ingress to nutrient enrichment resulting in crown of thorns outbreak,
acid-sulphate problems, and bleaching. His finger in many pies still had Ron chairing
high powered committee meetings with many political figures in Queensland
and he and his wife were councillors for
the Cancer Society. We reluctantly dragged ourselves away from such interesting
discussion.
The hour was
late, the cold night air was seeping into our marrow and our taxi-driver, Muriel
had an early morning work shift.
A quiet day on
site followed with George repairing the seat of a chair for Muriel while Lea
set about defrosting the deep freeze, baking to fill the cookie jars and
cleaning the caravan. The start of a
tumultuous day in Canberra with a leadership spill mounted unexpectedly by Malcolm
Turnbull. Despite the numbers going the Prime Minister’s way with the Liberal
Party settling - a chaotic four days followed after the Home Affairs and deeply
conservative Peter Dutton insisted he had the numbers to challenge his Prime
Minister. Late afternoon, we took a walk
towards the Botanic Gardens and back through the Cairns cemetery where we
chatted to a Japanese lady busy tending to her father’s grave. By nightfall 10 people in Government resigned
their positions on front bench and the leadership saga deepened.
Keeping an ear
to the television as rumours in Parliament House ran amok we stripped curtains
from SKV. It was time to turn the very dusty and dusky pink curtains back to
cream with a good wash before Paula Baxter arrives to take up the accommodation
there. Susan Blain popped in for a cuppa
with us that morning - amazing how Kariba connections run deep despite the
years that pass. Muriel too, pops in between her different
shift hours at the Old Age Home and joins us for supper whenever
the hours are right. As the week ended she collected Lea for a few hours
in the city and a visit to the vegetable market – Rusty’s. Meanwhile, George
was now totally engrossed in “Outback Heart”- determined to finish the book
before we departed.
Saturday 25th,
Paula Baxter flew into Cairns from Brisbane in readiness for the next leg
southwards. Paula enjoys every chance she can to meander along the road with us
finding new places to explore. Muriel joined us for dinner on our site that
evening. The next day we enjoyed a
morning walk across to the Botanical Gardens and through the different
sections.
Botanic Gardens
Orchid House
Late afternoon,
we walked the Cairns Esplanade – we were back to stretching our legs out in the
open. For our last day in Cairns we took Paula up to The Cascades before
stopping for a last shop. Roast dinner for the first time with the convection
went down well and then it was sad goodbyes to Muriel after three weeks of
having her in our lives.
It had been
tricky getting into our Cairns site and leaving was even harder as we’d been hemmed
in by a boat and a Satellite dish in front and a truck behind us. Eventually
the boat owner realised our predicament and came to help. The only way out was to reverse once the
truck behind us had moved. Thereafter it was clear sailing all the way to
Babinda in time for morning tea. Babinda Rotary Park provided us with a
pleasant campground for a donation. A fringe of rainforest trees with a variety
of bird sounds added a sound track. Often orioles with their liquid calls! Once
George had unhitched we set off for The Boulders… said to be a pretty swimming
creek with no crocs and granite boulders. We found the most picturesque of
picturesque swimming holes. While a well-made tarred walkway took us through
rainforest to another section of the creek with the most incredible granite
formations. Despite the dire warnings not to swim - it was all too good to be
heeded and young lads crept up rock
faces to leap into the delicious looking
pools. Life in the fast lane – with flash floods and water currents threatening
the unwary, whether it be humans or creatures.
Late afternoon
took us ten km south of Babinda, To Josephine Falls, at the base of the
highest mountain in Queensland Mt. Bartle Frere 1622m in the Wooroonooran
National Park – one of the many World Heritage sites making up the Wet Tropics.
The summit is
lost in cloud 8 out of every 10 days with rain falling up to 12m on the peak
some years and Josephine Falls generally has 5 to 8 m of water per year
rushing through.
The power of this water is immense – this is erosion in action…
Water steadily wearing away the surface of the earth. We may notice in our life time but the
evidence is there. Rounded pebbles hurtling around rock holes; the sandpaper
effects of sand washing across rocks and the chemicals within water further
dissolving rock faces.
Josephine Falls
Kurrimine Beach reminded
us of Wonga Beach, north of Cairns. The powered sites were packed in tightly
and no room for us so we happily took an informal site in the south side of the
campground. Tide was in and little room
to move. Paula went for a swim while we caught up on the blog. She didn’t
notice the Stingers Protection nets and just popped into the water opposite our
rig. We took our evening walk when the tide was out – wide flat beach which made
for uncomfortable walking on the feet due to the hard ripples in a variety of
size and pattern across the wide expanse.
Another short
hop through the coastal flatlands filled with cane fields in a varying array of
lengths. Some fields being chopped with a mechanical harvester as egrets
clustered behind feeding on the insects disturbed by the cutting of cane. Lengthy cane trains were filled and we had to
keep an eye out for their appearances on route to the Sugar Mill; took us to
Hull Heads. In close proximity to the
Tully River Estuary with the sound of lapping water against a boat, we camped
with no power and no use of generators as it was worth staying for the
view. In a nearby tree we found the
nests of the noisy metallic starlings – communal nests somewhat like the
sociable weavers. They must have been nesting there a long while as the ground
below was covered in a heaped pile of a variety of fruits that George first
thought were pips excreted! However, he collected up some and found otherwise.
Under observation through binoculars, George never saw the starlings flying
back with fruit in their beaks and yet the fruit rained down pretty steadily.
A long walk
along the beach at low tide, the beach profile changed by the estuary mouth we
noticed the homes along there having to combat cyclone induced storm surges if
they had been too intent on a view and eradicated the coastal bush. In one
place we found a sign requesting coconuts not to be removed as they being used
for re-vegetation. Paula and Lea began collecting the coconuts with shoots and
roots lying on the beach and returning them to the inter-tidal zone!
On the last day
of August we made for Murray Falls a little further on from Tully. A short walk
took us to view points and we decided that after a cuppa we’d push on to
Ingham. We stopped at the lookout over
Hinchinbrook Island as somehow we had forgotten just how long this island was
-it stretched from the attractive town of Cardwell to Lucinda.
Once we had
unhitched in Ingham, the plan had been to drive up to Wallaman Falls. So much
for plans - the thought of more kilometre in the truck didn’t appeal and we
ended up loitering in the caravan park after a frustrating couple of hours with
the bank.
Proved to be a perfect time to post the blog though.
